1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to nursing bottles, and particularly, to a programmable nursing bottle particularly suited for pre-natal infants, infants with a cleft lip, and/or infants with a cleft palate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cleft lips and cleft palates are common birth defects and require special attention during the initial six months of a child's life. To be more specific, there are three types of cleft lip, i.e., unilateral incomplete, unilateral complete and bilateral complete. There are also three types of cleft palates, namely the soft palate only, the unilateral complete, and the bilateral complete. However, each of the cleft lip and/or cleft palate malformations involves leakage of air from the mouth through the nose, which causes an infant to be unable to suck, causing regurgitation of fluids through the nose and difficulty in swallowing and breathing.
For a period of about six months until the infant has matured enough for corrective surgery, the infant must be fed. Feeding is not only the most immediate problem encountered in the daily care of an infant with a cleft lip and/or cleft palate, but it is one of the more difficult to solve and the most necessary for the survival of the child. For example, with respect to pre-natal infants, i.e., those born before 32 weeks, the suction reflex may not be fully developed, and the child may choke on nutrient from an ordinary bottle. Such choking may lead to infection.
Similarly, elderly individuals restricted to liquid diets often lack the strength or skills to feed themselves using conventional bottles and/cups. Accordingly, choking during feeding is also a concern for such individuals.
Thus, a programmable nursing bottle solving the aforementioned problems encountered by infants and elderly individuals, is desired.